Chapter 55
◎Agricultural Learning Activity (Revised)◎
It had been almost two months since the school year began, and the school was holding a blackboard newspaper competition. This task fell to the arts and literature committee member, Yuan Xiaohua. But the most important part of a blackboard newspaper was the drawing, and Yuan Xiaohua couldn’t draw. She looked at the circle of people below her. “Does anyone here know how to draw?”
The people in the class looked at each other, and no one responded.
Suddenly, a small voice said, “Last time in the political discussion class, I saw Su Xintang seem to be drawing.”
Yuan Xiaohua stared at her. “Su Xintang, can you draw?”
Tangtang was suddenly called by name. “Huh? I wouldn’t say I can draw. I’ve just been doodling on my own since I was little…”
Tangtang had loved colorful things since she was little. But in the winter, it was bare. Besides the white snow, there was only the exposed loess. It was hard to even see a tree with leaves. There was no interest. So she figured out how to draw on her own, tracing the outlines of the illustrations in her dad’s books and then coloring them in. Looking at them would make her feel better. Her drawings were pasted all over the house.
Her uncle, Yu Laowu, had even given her a set of paintbrushes that were said to be from the provincial capital one year. They were very precious, and she was reluctant to use them. They could still produce ink now.
“Then the two of us will be in charge of this blackboard newspaper. The theme of this blackboard newspaper is to grasp both learning and labor. It will be checked next week. This is a matter of the class collective’s honor. Do you understand?” Yuan Xiaohua stared at her with her neck stiff, her thin lips under her nose pursed into a sharp arc, and she was now pouting impatiently.
Tangtang thought for a moment and agreed. “Alright.”
…
Although Tangtang could draw, drawing on a blackboard was a completely different experience from drawing on paper. The blackboard was too rough, and the chalk tip would slip when it was poked on it. In addition, time was tight, and her time after school was basically sacrificed.
During the lunch break, after hastily eating two mouthfuls of rice, Tangtang returned to the classroom to continue drawing the upper left corner of the blackboard.
She was not tall enough, so she could only stand on a stool to barely reach it. Her arms were so sore she could barely lift them. She would switch to her left hand to support herself on the blackboard and swing her right hand a couple of times before drawing again.
With a snap, the chalk broke in two, and the longer piece fell to the ground.
Tangtang had finally stood firm and didn’t want to waste any more time going up and down. “Hey, can you help me pick up the chalk…”
Her gaze fell on Yuan Xiaohua not far away. Yuan Xiaohua was chatting and laughing with a few girls, her attention completely not on the blackboard newspaper.
Yuan Xiaohua had said that the two of them would be in charge together, but basically, besides writing a few words, she had done nothing else, with a “it’s none of my business” attitude. 85% of the content of this blackboard newspaper was done by Tangtang alone.
Tangtang sighed. So this class collective honor has become her personal business.
Just as she was about to jump down from the chair to pick up the chalk, she saw a hand pick up the chalk on the ground and hand it over. Sun Xiangrong clenched her fists. “Yuan Xiaohua, as the arts and literature committee member, has completely pushed the matter of the blackboard newspaper to you. It’s simply too much!”
Tangtang stuffed the broken piece of chalk in her hand into the blackboard groove and took the chalk from Sun Xiangrong. “Anyway, the drawing is already at this stage. I’ll just treat it as practice.”
At the end of the month, the results of the blackboard newspaper competition came out. Their class got first place, but the only person who received the award was Yuan Xiaohua, and the only name on the certificate was Yuan Xiaohua’s.
The artist of the blackboard newspaper was filled in by Yuan Xiaohua. For other classes, they filled in as many people as participated. But Yuan Xiaohua was good. She only wrote her own name in the artist column.
Yuan Xiaohua specially displayed the certificate on her chest, her chin slightly raised, her face full of pride.
Now even the other people in the class couldn’t stand it anymore. “Su Xintang is so amazing. I’ve seen our class’s blackboard newspaper and the other classes’ blackboard newspapers. The level is far ahead of the other classes!”
“With Yuan Xiaohua’s level of being able to draw a sunflower into a potato, she has the nerve to accept this certificate!”
“I’ve never seen someone so thick-skinned, directly taking all of Su Xintang’s credit!”
Without getting the expected praise, Yuan Xiaohua was so angry. She put on a dark face and, with a slap, pressed the certificate under her books.
…
In October, Yuanlin County High School organized students to go to Xiashan Village to participate in an agricultural learning activity, helping the production team harvest corn and potatoes under the guidance of the local old farmers.
Although the rural students usually did a lot of farm work at home, the feeling of the agricultural learning activity was still different. Here, their identity was that of “participants” rather than “family labor.” The collective activity brought them a different kind of novelty. And after the labor, there was also the segment where everyone cooked together, followed by a bonfire activity and storytelling. All of this was very new and unique.
They lived in the empty classrooms of Xiashan Village Primary School, with the boys in one classroom and the girls in another. The agricultural learning activity greatly improved the students’ reserved and unfamiliar relationships, and they quickly established familiar friendships.
The bamboo basket filled with potatoes was covered with sticky mud. Tangtang immersed the bamboo basket in the water and swung it back and forth a few times. The mud on it was washed clean. Looking at the river in front of her, the waterweeds were lush, and the living water flowed, not in a hurry, looking as if there would be fish.
“Tangtang, what’s wrong?” Sun Xiangrong asked her.
“Shh, let’s go fishing tonight.”
“Fishing?” Hearing her words, Su Juesheng and Sun Xiangrong’s eyes lit up. “Tangtang, are there fish in this river?”
“There should be.”
Tangtang’s words piqued the interest of the few people present. They quickly washed the bamboo baskets in their hands, returned to their residence at Xiashan Village Primary School, hastily ate a few mouthfuls of dry rations, and then found a few embroidery needles for mending clothes, heated them with fire, and bent them into the shape of a fishhook with pliers. Then they strung the fishhook with cotton thread, tied it to a bamboo pole, and a simple fishing rod was made.
The night was like a piece of ink-soaked flannel. The haystacks on the distant field ridges became blurry gray shadows. The chirping of insects came from all directions, and a few fireflies flew around in the grass. The moon cast a broken shadow on the surface of the water.
Tangtang found a suitable squatting position and threw out the fishing line. The sound of a frog jumping into the water came from the opposite bank, startling the withered grass on the bank into a rustling shake, as if the night were breathing.
Because the materials were limited, they had only made three fishing rods. Tangtang squatted on a stone slab. Her brother, Su Juesheng, who hadn’t gotten a fishing rod, squatted next to her and shooed away the mosquitoes for her.
Sun Xiangrong and Su Zitian shared a fishing rod.
The class monitor, Lin Yuanyang, and a female classmate named Xun Lili shared a rod.
Fishing was a test of patience. Su Zitian looked at the fishing rod in Sun Xiangrong’s hand. “How about we have a fishing competition? Let’s see which group catches the most.”
“What’s the bet?”
“How about the group that catches the least fish treats the others to a movie?”
Hearing this, Su Juesheng couldn’t help but laugh. “Then you’re bound to lose.”
Fishing still depended on luck. Since they were little, Su Juesheng had never seen anyone with better luck than his sister, Tangtang.
As soon as he said that, there was a whoosh. Tangtang pulled up her fishing rod, and a lively silver carp was biting on the hook. It looked to be about one or two catties.
After two hours of night fishing, Tangtang and Su Juesheng had the biggest harvest, catching five large fish and more than a dozen small fish. Su Zitian and Sun Xiangrong caught a crucian carp of more than two catties and seven or eight small fish. Lin Yuanyang and Xun Lili caught the least, only six small fish.
Tangtang and Su Juesheng gladly accepted the money for two movie tickets.
“There should be lemons in the mountains. Let’s find a way to pick some and take them back.”
“Lemons? That thing is so sour. What are they for?” Xun Lili asked with confusion.
“The fish in the rural rivers have a relatively heavy earthy smell. Lemons can neutralize the fishy smell very well.”
The hazy white moonlight enveloped the entire land. The few of them wandered in the mountains and, sure enough, found a lemon tree. They used a bamboo pole to knock down a few golden lemons.
Tangtang and the others had brought back so many fish that the other classmates couldn’t help but come over to watch, clicking their tongues in amazement.
“It’s dark at night. How did you catch so many? Did you catch all the fish in the river!”
“Look at this crucian carp, it’s longer than my vegetable basin at home!”
“Class monitor, where did you get the fishhooks?”
Sun Xiangrong couldn’t help but laugh. “You wouldn’t have thought, would you? They were modified from sewing needles!”
“Give me that fishing rod. I’m going fishing tomorrow too!” a boy said eagerly.
“Everyone gets a share. I’m going too!”
The fish they had caught were kept in a water vat overnight. The next day, after harvesting the corn, the classmates who knew how to kill fish helped to kill them. Tangtang came to cook the fish for everyone, and the others helped out.
The fish had already been scaled and gutted. The fish bones were chopped into pieces, and the fish meat was cut into thin slices of uniform size. They were marinated with green onion and ginger water in advance. Tangtang squatted in front of the earthen stove and added a dry corncob to the stove. After the oil in the large iron pot was heated, she poured the fish bones and fish head into the pot and fried them until they were golden brown on both sides before taking them out.
Next, she added ginger, green onions, garlic, and chili peppers to stir-fry until fragrant, then poured the fried fish bones and fish head back in. With a sizzle, she poured in clean water, added salt and soy sauce, and cooked for five minutes.
Tangtang added the pre-marinated fish slices and sliced lemon to the pot. When adding the fish meat, she didn’t forget to use chopsticks to separate the fish meat to prevent it from sticking together. After the fish meat was cooked, she ladled it into a washbasin.
She sprinkled a handful of dried chili sections on top, and with a sizzle, she poured hot oil over it. The whole area was filled with the fragrance of lemon fish.
The lemon fish that Tangtang made received unanimous praise from the teachers and classmates. They ate the lemon fish with brown rice, burying their heads and eating with gusto, their necks covered in sweat. They didn’t even waste the soup, fighting to use it to mix with their rice.
“Su Xintang, this fish you made is really amazing. I’ve never had such delicious fish. The fish meat is fresh and tender, and it’s not fishy at all!”
“That’s right. The fish we make at home always has an earthy smell. The fish Tangtang made only has the fresh fragrance of lemon.”
“This soup is so sour. I can eat two more bowls of rice with it.”
“This fish meat melts in your mouth.” A boy in the back row put his chopsticks into the enamel washbasin, and in an instant, two pieces of tender white fish meat were in his bowl. “My grandma always puts a lot of ginger when she stews fish. The fishy smell is gone, but the meat is as dry as cotton.”
“I dare say this is the most fragrant meal we’ve had since we started the agricultural learning.”
Even the class teacher, Teacher Yao, couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up. “This fish is better than the ones in the restaurants.”
Tangtang was a little embarrassed by everyone’s praise. “I’m glad you like it.”
Everyone was in a harmonious and joyful mood. Only Yuan Xiaohua had a dark face, picking at a plate of wilted yellow boiled green vegetables in the corner. This dish had been cooked early in the morning. There were not two drops of oil in the dish, and it had been on the table for half a day without anyone touching it. The fragrance of the lemon fish constantly wafted into her nose. She also wanted to eat the fish, but her pride would not allow her to eat the fish that Su Xintang had made.
Xun Lili glanced at Tangtang and took the initiative to serve a piece of fish meat to Yuan Xiaohua.
Yuan Xiaohua dodged the bowl, and the piece of tender white fish meat fell to the ground. She raised her chin in Tangtang’s direction, rolled her eyes, as if she were talking to Tangtang. “Hmph, who cares!”
Xun Lili was also angry. If you don’t care, then fine. What a spoiled young lady’s temper!